The King of Fighters XIII/Defense

Rolling

While standing, press A+B or f+A+B to roll forward, or press b+A+B to roll backward. Rolls are immediately invincible to attacks throughout their traveling animation. However, they are completely vulnerable to throws, and there is a short recovery animation at the end of a roll before any other action can be taken. Rolling can be used defensively (e.g. to avoid projectiles by rolling through them) or offensively (e.g. rolling to end up approximately at the same spot as an opponent rising from a knockdown to make it difficult for the opponent to see which way to block), but as with jumps and hops, they are vulnerable to punishment if used poorly. Distance traveled, duration, and recovery time vary by character, and can also be altered by canceling a run into a roll, which generally increases both distance traveled and duration.

Guard Cancel Roll (GCAB)

It is possible to cancel blockstun into a roll at the expense of 1 stock of super meter. To do this, simply press A+B or b+A+B after blocking an attack but before blockstun has finished. Unlike a normal roll, a Guard Cancel Roll is completely invincible, unthrowable, and has no recovery time. This can be used to punish attacks that would normally be safe if blocked, such as multiple hit attacks that knock the defender back a far distance if blocked normally (e.g. Andy’s hcf+K).

Guard Cancel CD (GCCD)

It is also possible to cancel blockstun into a CD attack at the expense of 1 stock of super meter. To do this, simply press C+D after blocking an attack but before blockstun has finished. Unlike a normal CD attack, this will have some invincibility during the startup but also does much less damage. If the opponent avoids getting hit (either by using a quick-recovering attack that would allow them to block before the Guard Cancel CD hits or by using an attack with enough invincibility to avoid the Guard Cancel CD hit), it is possible to be punished during the recovery time, although as with a normal standing CD, a Guard Cancel CD may be canceled into a special move. Guard Cancel CD attacks are also vulnerable to command counters, such as Elizabeth’s qcb+AC.

Recovery Roll (also known as Tech Roll)

Pressing A+B as the character is about to touch the ground for a soft knockdown allows the character to perform an immediate recovery roll. This makes the character recover faster than normal, and also moves them to a location further behind unless they are cornered. The rolling animation is completely invincible and has no recovery time, but the character is immediately throwable, unlike after taking the knockdown and waking. A recovery roll will also avoid attacks with OTG property. Note that certain attacks have the property “hard knockdown”, which prevents the use of a recovery roll.

Alternate Guard

Laban's tutorial covers the uses of Alternate Guarding in KOF to avoid command grabs and ways to 'break' through to punish a player for using the technique.

Originally a bug, and now back in KOF XIII as a feature is a technique called Alternate Guard. If you are in blockstun, you can extend your blockstun by quickly alternating between low and high block. Since characters in KOFXIII cannot be thrown while in blockstun, this extends the time that you are invulnerable to being thrown. Alternate Guard is a great way of avoiding tick throws and can even grant you a punish off the whiffed throw.